Always
by AerinM
Summary: A collection of one-shots that take place after the end of Book 5. Lots of Bracken/Kendra fluff. Other characters are involved as well, of course.
1. Embarrassment

A few things about me… Do not expect daily or even weekly updates from me. I am a career woman with two very young sons and a husband with a psychotic work schedule (my toddler is sitting on my lap right now as I write this AN). Yes, I'm probably too old for fan fiction, but I love it anyway. :) I will update when I can – I have this habit of editing things a zillion times over before I call any work of mine good. Annoying yes, but it's something that I do.

Each chapter will be a different one-shot (with possibly occasional exceptions that may take more than one chapter to get through). That means no cliffhangers. It also means that there won't always necessarily be a "next chapter," which means closure at the end of each one. Happy readings, hope you enjoy. This first chapter starts off immediately after the end of book 5.

Disclaimer: This will serve for all chapters in this story. Brandon Mull owns Fablehaven. Since my name is definitely not Brandon Mull, that means I don't own the series and am just a fan with some ideas.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Embarrassment**

Kendra was flushed, distracted and quite obviously floating on Cloud Nine as she walked through the forest back to her grandparents' house after seeing Bracken off at the shrine to the Fairy Queen. She felt lighter than air and energized enough to run across a thousand football fields in tiny circles. To say that she was elated would be a gross underestimate of how she really felt – joyful, amazed, giddy with excitement… Words didn't really do her justice at the moment.

The fairies stared at her as she passed by, some gaping, some gawking, others giggling behind their hands. Kendra didn't even notice them due to her deep daydreaming state; one fairy with short, spiky blond hair and an intricate lacy-looking short yellow dress with white trim fell victim to Kendra's blissful ignorance and was knocked off of the flower she had been sitting on as Kendra quickly strolled – or was it _skipped?_ – by in her daze.

"Uh… whoa. Are you okay?" a voice interrupted Kendra's thought processes. Seth. Surprisingly, she had apparently made it all the way to the yard without realizing it before her brother had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

Kendra snapped out of it. Partly, at least. "I'm great!" she said, probably a little more emphatically than necessary.

Seth's eyebrow raised. "Obviously. What happened to you? You weren't even like this after we saved the world." His tone of voice was cautiously curious, as though he wasn't sure he really wanted to know what was going on with his sister.

A little more pink flowed to her cheeks. "I… Nothing. It's nothing," she managed to reply, completely unconvincingly. Seth couldn't help it; his curiosity had officially been piqued.

"Then what's with the goofy grin on your face? It's like you're having three of the best Christmases ever, and all at the same time!"

"Don't worry about it." She grasped at any ideas that entered her head to come up with a reasonable excuse. "I'm just happy that everything has worked out! The world is safe, Mom and Dad are here, the garden is beautiful and the sun is shining!" She started walking toward the house quickly in hopes of getting rid of him. A few more steps brought her to the back door; as soon as she walked through the door however, Seth ran up and all but shouted, "What, did Bracken finally kiss you or something?"

Kendra froze, her face a deep red now. Who better to witness this exchange than her Grandma Sorenson, Grandpa Larsen… and Dad, who were all sitting at the kitchen table?

Once Seth entered the house after Kendra and saw everyone staring at them, he clapped a hand over his mouth. Sure, he liked to tease his sister as much as any younger brother would, but he didn't mean to embarrass her in front of the rest of the family. Well… at least not yet, anyway. He didn't know enough details, although he had an idea that he might have hit the nail directly on the head, judging by the fact Kendra's face resembled a tomato in color and she wasn't making eye contact with anyone.

The three adults stared at Seth and Kendra for a moment as a silence fell over the kitchen. Grandma Sorenson coughed and moved her coffee cup to the sink, and then Grandpa Larsen stood and said, "I think I heard my wife calling me just now." He walked out of the room after smiling and winking at Kendra, whose face miraculously turned an even darker shade of red. Seth saw Dad's expression, recognized one of those "special" talks coming on, then immediately turned around and high-tailed it back out into the yard before he could even potentially be called back to participate in that.

* * *

After what had to have been one of the most awkward conversations with her father that she'd ever had, Kendra had walked straight to the attic and the room she shared with Seth. Due to his sudden escape to the yard twenty minutes earlier, the room was thankfully empty. She ran to her bed and dove face-first into her pillow, smiling like a crazy person with no conscience. Despite what Dad had said, she was embarrassingly happy and she intended to stay that way for a little while longer. At least long enough for her to relive the events – _that_ event – of the day about a hundred more times.

'He kissed me,' she thought over and over again, barely able to keep herself from bursting into what she used to call "ridiculously girly giggles." After telling her that he had every intention to visit often and basically see where things went with their relationship, he told her she was beautiful and then… he kissed her. Sort of. It was a quick peck on the cheek close to the corner of her mouth, but to Kendra it was the _perfect_ first kiss. He picked her up immediately following, spun her around with a glorious smile on his face, embraced her tightly and let her go.

"I'll see you again soon," he promised, grinning from ear to ear and sounding as energized as she suddenly felt. "Nothing could keep me away for long."

All Kendra could manage to do at that moment was stare at him with a matching smile painted across her face; her heart, along with her arms and legs, felt like it was melting. She wouldn't have been surprised if she found she had turned into a puddle of goo in front of him.

He seemed even happier by her speechless reaction. "Kendra," he said, taking her by the hand, "I need to go. But I mean every word I've said." He started to walk away from her, then suddenly turned on the spot and placed another kiss on the back of the hand of hers that he still held. With one last smile, he let go and he ran for the Fairy Queen's shrine.

Kendra walked off of the gazebo and all but collapsed onto the lawn, her brain buzzing with excitement. After an undetermined amount of time while she stared at the white, fluffy clouds in the brilliantly blue sky, she finally stood back up and headed for the house feeling lighter than air.

Yeah, even Dad's awful "boy talk" couldn't ruin her day.


	2. Competition

Thank you for the positive feedback. :) I appreciate it! I have a few chapters already handwritten out, so once I type them up I'll have some more to post. Here's one.

If you want to leave me a word or two as prompts for me to base future chapters off of, I'll mention your name if I choose your suggestion. Just singular words, or short phrases, or some random sentence you'd like one of the characters to say will work. No guarantees that I will use your suggestions, but if it will work with the major points I want to touch on then I probably will. I plan to start aging Kendra and Seth starting shortly after this chapter takes place. I'm toying with a few ideas.

Anyway… here's the second installment. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 2: Competition**

"Aww… Come on!" Seth loudly complained. "I've got to beat you at least once at _something!_"

Bracken smiled smugly. "No, you really don't," he said.

"Seriously, you always win! Give somebody else a chance, will you?"

"You want a pity victory? That's not much to brag about," Bracken pointed out. Then he shrugged. "Being locked up in a dungeon for countless years certainly gives you a LOT of time to refine your skills at games. Well… when they were available, anyway."

Seth frowned – how could he ever compete with that!? – then he suddenly brightened as "The Idea" popped into his brain. A light bulb almost visibly turned on over Seth's head and a mischievous smile began to sneak its way across his features. "I know something I can crush you at," he said slowly.

"Oh yeah?" Bracken's curiosity was piqued. "Bring it on," he challenged.

Seth leapt up from the floor where they had been playing some old version of Risk. A chess board and all of the corresponding pieces lay scattered around, as well as a deck of cards and a very worn-out set of Chinese Checkers. From the looks of the mess of games in the living room, they'd been at this for hours.

Rushing over to the cabinet beneath the television, Seth pulled open a drawer and removed what appeared to Bracken to be an oddly shaped piece of black plastic attached to some black cords with tri-colored tips that presumably plugged into something, along with two other even more oddly shaped pieces of plastic that were much smaller than the first and identical to each other. Colored buttons adorned the two plastic things that matched, as well as a couple of moving pieces that looked like they swiveled around.

"This," said Seth dramatically as he held up the largest piece, "is a Nintendo 64. Yes, there are definitely more recent video game systems, but this is the one we have. It's still in great condition." He passed one of the smaller plastic pieces with buttons to Bracken and kept the other one.

"Seth-" Bracken began, but was cut off.

"That is your controller. How about we start with a racing game?" Seth chose a game and placed it into the console.

"Seth-"

"This is the button you press to step on the gas. This one is your brake, but if you're going to beat me then you'll never touch it." Seth then showed Bracken how to steer. "Tutorial complete," he said after a minute. Then, with a sly grin and a twinkle in his eye he added, "Are you ready to die?"

Bracken gave up trying to say whatever he had wanted to originally and smiled. "Challenge accepted, but you're the one who's going to lose."

"I have played this game for hours. There's no way you're going to defeat me!"

They selected their cars and Bracken watched the screen as the vehicles lined up at the beginning of the race. "Why are there more cars than just the two of ours?" he asked.

"The other ones are computer controlled," Seth said. "We're playing against each other and fake people."

"Gotcha." Lights on the screen were flashing red as the actual room Seth and Bracken occupied lit up tremendously, although Seth didn't react at all. Bracken heard the soft footsteps he'd recognize anywhere, and sure enough Kendra walked up from behind them. Seth didn't appear to notice as Kendra quietly sat next to and slightly behind Bracken, on the opposite side as her brother. She put her finger to her lips and reached for the controller in Bracken's hand. Bracken, ever the gentleman, obliged to her silent request. Just as the light on the screen turned green, Kendra pressed the gas button and started racing her brother.

It was clear almost right away that she was better at this than Seth was, although the two were close. Bracken chuckled at Seth's frustrated sounds and Kendra's silent expertise. She kept taking the lead, slowing down just enough to let Seth pass her slightly so he could run into some trap or other that she'd set up for him, then she'd speed ahead again. Seth hadn't caught on that she was playing instead of Bracken until she passed the finish line with a very good lead over Seth and the computer players.

"What?! How is that possible?!" Seth exclaimed as Kendra gave Bracken a high-five and they both started laughing. Seth looked at them, realized Kendra had been the one to compete against and said, "Oh, ha ha. Very funny." Directing his comments toward Bracken, Seth continued, "I can't believe you needed my _sister_ to help you win!"

"I never raced you – that was all Kendra. So technically, she didn't help me. She did it all on her own."

Seth's face flushed.

"Oh come on," Kendra began, cutting off any response Seth had been formulating. "It wouldn't have been fair otherwise. At least Bracken chose games you both were familiar with! You picked something he's never even seen before."

"He's had _years_ of practice with everything else and I haven't! How is _that_ fair?!"

"Are you really letting some stupid games bother you?"

"They're not stupid, they're awesome! At least they would be if I'd just _win_!"

"Guys!" Bracken said loudly, catching the siblings' attention. They both looked at him with the same questioning expression and suddenly he could see the family resemblance they shared. Temporarily distracted by this, he said, "You two have very similar facial features, you know?"

Seth scoffed. "I don't believe this guy!" he shouted, throwing his hands in the air. "First he asks for help from my _sister_ to beat me, and then he says I look like a _girl_!" Kendra started to laugh, which annoyed Seth even more. "It's not funny!" he declared, although there was perhaps a tiny smidge of slight amusement in his eyes.

"Please calm down, Seth," Bracken began, "I didn't mean it as an insult. At any rate, what I had originally wanted to ask was… Can three people play this game?"

Seth's temper toned down to a slightly less frustrated level as Kendra responded, still smiling from laughter, "Yes. Up to four players at a time. Why? Do you want to try it?" The boys could have sworn they heard a lilt of teasing in her question.

Bracken smiled at the slightly competitive hint she was sending him. "I'd like to try," he said. "The game looks like it could be fun."

"Alright," Kendra shrugged, her tone changing to one of warning as she looked at her brother. "Go easy on him, Seth."

"No way," Seth replied, producing another controller from the drawer and handing it to Bracken. "You're player three by the way," he said as he again reminded Bracken which button was the gas and which was the brake.

The trio sat down on the floor in the same order as before with Bracken in the middle, all three paying close attention to the television as they chose their racing vehicles. In a couple minutes, their cars were lined up at the black and white checkered banner which marked the beginning of the race. The course itself was fairly simple – a rather large oval designed to look like a standard race track, with grass and sand in the center of the oval. "I'm choosing a beginner course," Kendra had explained. "So you can get used to steering. Stay out of the middle; the sand and grass will slow you way down."

"Stop helping him," Seth muttered while Kendra rolled her eyes.

"I may be going easy on Bracken, but I'm still going to beat you," she said with a matter-of-fact tone to her voice. Bracken grinned at her confidence – he rather liked seeing this side of her.

"Whatever," Seth grumbled as the lights in the game turned from flashing red to a sudden green and all three competitors raced off down the course. Kendra took the lead right away, but what surprised both her and Seth was the fact that Bracken remained even with them. In fact, he was quickly gaining the upper hand over the siblings by hugging the inside of the corners and making sure to hit all of the speed boosts on the straight ways.

"Have you played this before?" Seth asked through gritted teeth after a couple of minutes and several failed attempts to deter Bracken's progress in the game.

"This game? No," Bracken said as he passed the finish line, barely coming in ahead of Kendra who was, in turn, barely ahead of Seth.

A groan of frustration escaped Seth. "How are you so good at this if you've never played it before?!"

"I tried to tell you at the very start," Bracken began to explain calmly. "We did occasionally have a Playstation or X-Box to play while I was imprisoned. It's not that difficult to adapt to an older video gaming system after having played on more recent ones. The controllers and graphics are a little different, but that's about it."

Kendra laughed lightly as Seth purposely smacked his head against the floor. "In that case, you're on," she challenged Bracken. "We're going for the hard levels. Are you in, Seth?"

With his face still firmly planted into the hardwood floor, Seth responded, "I give up. Just… Aaaaaaaahhhh. Go on without me."

"I think you broke my brother," Kendra said to Bracken, who chuckled.

"Don't take it too hard, Seth," Bracken started, "I'm sure you'll best me at something random one of these days."

A muffled, indistinguishable response was the only sound aside from Kendra's shuffling noises as she re-situated herself next to him. Bracken smiled in contentment. He really felt like he fit right in.


	3. Prank

This chapter was prompted by **MeTheAwesome**. Thanks for the inspiration! ;) You've started a chain of events here.

Again, thank you for the positive feedback. Next chapter I'm planning to be a brief glimpse of Seth's quest (I'm still deciding between whether I should give his quest a funny or serious spin), and then we'll really start getting into a lot of cutesy fluff and more general silliness as the characters grow up a little more.

* * *

**Chapter 3: Prank**

Kendra was sitting on the steps at the shallow end of the pool in the back yard, watching Bracken and Seth play some form of water basketball or other in the deeper section. They had tried to convince her to join them, but she had pointedly refused; she was embarrassed about being in a swimsuit in front of Bracken (not that she would ever admit it verbally). Her body had been changing a lot lately – more quickly in recent weeks than it had been over the past year or so – and while she appreciated some of the growth that was occurring, she was feeling perhaps a little too self-conscious with this much exposure. She wouldn't have even gone into the pool this afternoon if it hadn't been for Bracken's playful eyes and her internal stubborn mantra of 'fake it 'til you make it' where her confidence was concerned.

Besides, she was having a lot of fun observing them. She had to admit, things were never boring when her brother was around, and he and Bracken were almost always a gold mine for amusement and laughter. Smiling was almost completely unavoidable when those two were together.

Bracken. He looked so at ease, so _young_ when he was visiting. It was hard to picture him as older than perhaps eighteen or nineteen; it was even harder to picture him as anything but human. There were the subtle reminders, though – like Grandpa Sorenson having to hurriedly add "unicorns" to the registry of which creatures were allowed in the yard and house while he politely stood beyond the grassy perimeter during his first formal visit. Raxtus had been granted, by Agad, immunity from magical barriers where the preserves were concerned, but apparently Bracken hadn't. He explained that Raxtus was pretty much supposed to act as Agad's eyes and ears around the preserves in order to further prevent the re-opening of Zzyzx, whereas Bracken had made it clear that he didn't want that job. He further explained that he could have attacked the wards with his horn and broken them easily since he wasn't part of the initial treaty, but then he joked that it would probably make a bad second impression on Kendra's family if he sent the preserve swirling into chaos.

She continued thinking about moments where she would catch glimpses of his non-human self when her thoughts suddenly crashed into the present as she realized that a pair of blue eyes were staring straight into her green ones from a distance of only about a foot. Startled, she clutched at her chest and shouted, "You scared me!"

Bracken laughed. "You were staring off into space," he said.

"I guess that makes me a pretty terrible referee, huh?" She joined him in light laughter. "Sorry I wasn't paying attention."

"I'm not bothered by it. What were you thinking about?"

"Oh, just… stuff," she responded vaguely, knowing that wouldn't satisfy his curiosity but hoping he would drop it. Changing the subject she asked, "Where'd Seth go?"

Bracken seemed to understand, didn't pursue his original question and instead explained, "He said he was hungry and went inside to grab a snack. He also said he'd bring us something if we wanted it."

She quirked an eyebrow. "Seth? Volunteering – unprompted – to do something nice? For me of all people? Really?"

"Do you think he's up to something?"

"Of course."

Bracken smiled, and silence fell between the two. After a minute or so, his expression changed and he looked like something was troubling him. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but then shut it and shook his head.

"What's wrong? Do I have something on my face?" she joked.

"No no," he began. Then, hesitantly, he continued, "You, um… Your swimsuit is nice. I mean, you look nice. In your swimsuit. Which is… nice..."

Kendra blushed and giggled a little, and Bracken shyly grinned and scratched the back of his head uncomfortably. He was learning to be smoother with his compliments, but sometimes he still acted like the tongue-tied guy she met in prison. "Thank you," Kendra answered sincerely. Suddenly she felt even more self-conscious.

"One of these days, I promise I'll be able to give a compliment without making myself look like a total nincompoop," he laughed. "I'm sorry you get to be my test subject. I really am trying hard to get better at this."

"I think there are much worse things that could happen to me than being on the receiving end of awkward flattery," she stated lightheartedly. She reached out and touched his shoulder tentatively, hoping he could understand that she was not upset but wasn't quite sure how to tell him that his heartfelt words really meant a lot to her.

He apparently either received the memo or was feeling particularly affectionate because the next thing she knew, he had his arms around her in a tight embrace. "I'm really embarrassed," he admitted in her ear. "I'm just very fond of you."

Kendra felt like she was on fire. "Now _you're_ the one embarrassing _me_," she said. Part of her wanted to curl up into a ball and hide her exposed body somewhere far away perhaps under a mountain of blankets where no one would be able to look at her until after she put more clothes on, and the other part of her wanted to pull his face out of her hair and kiss him like crazy. They hadn't shared more than that one perfect, quick peck during his first visit to Fablehaven almost a year ago, after all.

She was definitely not bold enough for option two. At least not today. Option one, however…

Bracken started chuckling and she realized with a gut-wrenching jolt of mortification that he probably just read her thoughts. It's not like she had been trying to suppress them – she was practically shouting them at him while simultaneously forgetting that he could actually hear her when she did that, whether he'd intended to invade her mind or not.

She pushed him away from her and buried her face in her hands, wishing she could disappear.

"It's okay," he began in a soothing voice, "I'm not going to tell anyone."

"It's _you_ I wanted to keep all of that from in the first place!" she almost-wailed miserably.

"I'm sorry," he apologized honestly. "I wasn't trying to pry."

He moved closer to her again and sat beside her on the steps, trying to think of something that would calm her down and yet failing. An intensely awkward silence ensued until Seth showed up with a bowl of orange slices in hand.

"I'm not sure what I missed, but I really don't think I want to know," he stated simply, tone laced with caution. Kendra jumped when she heard his voice; she hadn't noticed he was there. She wasn't sure she'd ever been more thankful to see her brother before. Judging by the way Bracken shifted beside her, he probably felt similarly.

Seth sat down on the edge of the pool, feet dangling in the water, and offered the bowl of fruit to the two of them; they both seemed to leap at the opportunity to busy themselves with something that didn't include talking to each other and grabbed a couple of slices each, stuffing them in their mouths and chewing desperately. Well… Kendra was, anyway; Bracken was a little less obviously desperate in his chewing endeavors.

She swallowed quickly and urgently reached for more, Bracken doing similarly very shortly thereafter. This time, however…

Something was wrong.

Something was very, very wrong.

Kendra spat the semi-chewed orange slice into her hand. "Ugh!" she exclaimed, "What on earth-?!"

Bracken's face paled as he forced himself to swallow, then fell into a coughing fit. "Seth, _seriously_…" he managed to say between gasps of air.

Seth started cracking up. "That couldn't have gone more perfectly!" he cried. He clutched at his chest as his body shook with laughter. "Whatever you guys were talking about before I came back… You didn't even think twice about it…"

"Real mature, Seth! Vinegar? Really?" Kendra shouted. She stood up and walked straight out of the pool, grabbing her towel and wrapping it around her torso, meanwhile dropping her spat out piece of fruit into the bowl with the untouched ones that Seth still held. Her brother made a disgusted sound and gently tossed the plastic bowl to a spot several feet away from him, then resumed laughter.

Bracken was still coughing. Kendra could understand why; Seth had practically drowned the slice she had in vinegar and if Bracken's was the same way, he'd probably still be coughing for a little while longer since he actually swallowed it. Seth's continued guffaws pulled at her last string; she ran up to him and gave him a quick shove, planting him in the water. He shot straight up, spluttering – apparently being under water and laughter did not go hand in hand.

"Whatever," he shrugged it off, a smile returning to his face. "Your guys' reactions were totally worth that."

Kendra met Bracken's eyes and before Seth knew it, Bracken had pushed him back under the water. Seth kicked and squirmed while Bracken held him under with one hand and quickly asked Kendra, "Are we alright?"

She calmed herself down a notch and responded, "Yeah. I'm sorry. Can we just pretend like none of that happened?"

"What happened?" he asked innocently.

"That's perfect."

He grinned in response. Then, remembering that Seth was still underwater, he released his hold and allowed the boy to surface.

Seth sounded like he was going to cough up a lung. "What was _that_?!" he managed after a moment.

"The beginnings of payback," Bracken responded. "You may have won this battle, but _I_ will win the war."

* * *

Sounds like a challenge. I know this prank was a little… basic, simple, whatever… but it's the starting ground I need. Plus, I can picture Seth actually doing something like this just for kicks and giggles.

This chapter was not reviewed my typical zillion times before posting. I apologize in advance for any sentence fluency issues or if my writing seems to be too choppy. I really wanted to get this one up and will fix it if I find issues later.


	4. Trouble

I may eventually write a chapter story dedicated to Seth's quest. The time for that is not now. I am a major "let's work on one project at a time" kind of person. So… we'll see what the future holds. For now, here's a touch of my interpretation of this particular event. I did quote a little of pages 405 and 406 of book 5, _Keys to the Demon Prison_. That part is quite obvious. And I'm sorry, but if you haven't read book 5 then you'll likely be at least partially lost on this chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 4: Trouble**

The room was exactly the same as he remembered it – damp, with puddles all over the floor and gross maggot things in each one. A short distance away stood the three women he would recognize anywhere, their arms fused together at the wrists. He approached them confidently, a troll on both sides either to simply escort him or make sure he didn't slaughter the Sisters with the sword.

"Seth Sorenson," Wilna – the fat one – stated as he drew closer.

"I've brought you a wraith," Seth began, motioning to the box he held in his hands, "and Vasilis I will surrender to you."

"Very good," Orna commented happily. Seth remembered that she had been the one who seemed the fondest of him out of the three.

"We thought you might forget your deadline," the tallest one – Berna – said with a frown.

"Of course not," Seth said, unperturbed by the disappointment he heard in her voice. He knew too well what would have happened if he had been late to this particular appointment, and he didn't much treasure the thought of dying from a cursed stab wound. Shrugging off that thought, he asked, "Have you decided on an item you would like me to retrieve for you?"

"Yes," the Sisters responded simultaneously.

They did not clarify so after a minute Seth prompted, "Well… what is it?"

"Now is not the time for your quest," Wilna answered. "We will call on you in the future."

A large question mark seemed to wiggle its way into Seth's brain, and he thought it would be best to stop them in their tracks before this conversation went down in a way he would not be happy with.

"Our deal was that I would return within a year to act as your champion," Seth said sternly, his disapproval made clear. "You are bound by our agreement as well."

The Sisters tittered.

"Such boldness," Berna said.

"He's so like Patton – I wish you would have chosen to be our servant, boy," Orna added.

"You forget your vow," Berna stated. "Shall we refresh your memory?"

"I think I remember pretty well. I've had the threat of 'death-by-ceremonial-knife' hanging over my head for the past year after all," Seth pointed out. "I said I would be back before a year had passed, and here I am."

"You didn't retain everything," Wilna chimed in. She looked at the other two women and after a moment she nodded.

"We will remind you of your promise."

The Sisters tilted their heads back and opened their mouths wide but instead of song like the last time Seth had visited them, he heard other voices echoing all around the cavernous space. He listened to what was being said and quickly understood that this was some kind of replay of the conversation he had with them when the deal had originally been struck.

'_He makes a reasonable bargain,'_ he heard. It seemed as though the voices were directly in his ears at times however, when he turned his head, sure enough there was no one invading his personal space. _'Three gifts: the sword, a wraith, and one of our choosing. Consider the possibilities.'_

'_I am inclined to accept as well. Is it unanimous, sister, or shall we outvote you?'_

'_Very well. We will accept your dubious proposition, upon one condition. You must not divulge the terms of our proposal to anyone, or share the particulars of our other offers.'_

'_Agreed,' _Seth heard his own voice say.

'_Gromlet, bring us a covenant knife.'_

There was a momentary pause and Seth pictured the athame being presented to him by the short troll called Gromlet. He remembered pricking his finger on the blade when he heard the next words, _'Let the knife taste your blood.'_

'_We vow to show you how to find Vasilis. Knife_ _in hand, make your vow!'_

'_I promise to bring you Vasilis within a year after I find it, to bring you a wraith bound to serve you, and to retrieve an additional item for you upon your request.'_

'_Once we perform our obligation, you will be bound. If you fail to perform your duties, or if you divulge the particulars of our arrangement, this knife will take your life. So be it.'_

Seth's eyes widened as what he heard sunk in and the voices faded. He hadn't been specific enough. They'd found a loophole, _'upon your request,'_ and he was quite unsettled by how vulnerable he suddenly felt.

Silence reigned in the area until Seth asked quietly, "Why not just send me now if you know what you want? I'm right here."

"Your sacrifice was part of the bargain."

"The personal toll you pay matters. Not only how you benefit us."

Seth was bothered at this but he tried to remain calm and keep his emotions in check. "So what, are you going to call me away when my first child is being born or something?"

"Perhaps," Wilna answered.

"That isn't a terrible thought," Orna chimed in.

Seth ran his hands through his hair quickly, giving it a messy appearance. He was very nervous. Being indebted to mysterious, powerful magical beings with a spontaneous due date for repayment somewhere out there on the horizon was not comforting.

The Sisters stared at him while he fought internally with himself, patiently waiting for his response.

"Alright," he finally acquiesced. "A deal is a deal. How will I know when the time is right?"

"You will know," Wilna replied. "There will be no mistake."

He mentally cursed at his situation. "Very well. I'm assuming Vasilis is to remain here until I am called?"

"That would be according to the terms of our bargain. You will not wield it again until your task has been set."

"Relinquish the sword and the wraith and be on your way."

Seth passed the box containing the wraith he'd brought from the Hall of Dread back home to the troll who walked up to him from seemingly out of nowhere. He then removed the scabbard containing Vasilis from his belt and held it in his hands for a moment before passing it to the same troll. 'Thank you,' he thought, pointedly hoping that somehow the sword would be able to sense his gratitude. Parting with it was more difficult than he'd thought it would be; that sword had proven to be infinitely necessary. He didn't know how they could possibly have managed the Zzyzx fiasco without it. Vasilis had protected him, his sister, and had allowed Bracken's plan to succeed which ultimately prevented the end of the world.

"Don't wait until I'm a feeble old man to drag me back here," Seth said as he turned around and followed a different troll back to the entry door. He could hear the Sisters mumbling indistinguishably to themselves as he left.

This was not going to be good. His gut told him so.

* * *

Happy Mother's Day to all of the ladies out there, whether or not you have children of your own. It doesn't take blood relation to be able to mother a child. Here's the part where I shamelessly say that my birthday is also on Sunday and I'm just hoping for a relaxing day with my happy kids. :) Have a great weekend, everyone!


	5. Baking

Here's a bit of fun. :) Thank you everyone for your kind words, favorites and follows!

* * *

**Chapter 5: Baking**

Whatever Kendra was making in the kitchen, it smelled wonderful. She had taken to baking lately and found it to be not only relaxing but very rewarding. It gave her a sense of accomplishment to be able to turn out breads, pies and cookies that looked just as good as the pictures in the cookbooks. Well… maybe not quite as fancy. She wasn't very skilled at decorating or frosting, so her cakes looked simple and her cookies were lucky if they were coated with a simple glaze. She loved to share her work though, and the people (as well as certain satyrs) that lived at or visited Fablehaven seemed to appreciate acting as her taste testers.

She hadn't baked much before Seth had left to deliver Vasilis and the wraith to the Singing Sisters; she'd been a nervous wreck waiting at home for news about her brother's quest, although she tried not to show it too much. Mom had been nervous too and she managed to cajole Kendra into helping her make bread to pass a little of the time and perhaps take their minds off of Seth for a little while.

It didn't really work as a distraction, but she quickly found that kneading dough was a great frustration reliever and measuring ingredients at least helped her feel like she was doing something constructive with her time. She kept picturing her brother and the small party that went with him – Warren, Vanessa and Bracken – coming back to homemade treats and before she knew it, she and her mother had made not only the couple loaves of bread they had initially planned on but also several dozen cookies and a lemon meringue pie. Dad kept himself busy by continuously smuggling cookies – which earned him several quick swats on his hands and shoulders from his wife – and which also prompted the two women to bake even more.

"If we keep this up, the brownies might get jealous about not having any cooking to do," Kendra had joked, to which her mother replied, "Mmmm… Brownies sound good. Let's make some of those next!"

Kendra's grandmothers and grandfathers had periodically stopped by to either join in or taste test and wonder aloud about what they were going to do with all of these baked goods when Marla finally had enough of her husband's treat-thieving and sternly insisted that Stan take his son outside to "work off those calories by doing something useful like milking the cow or whatever it is you do all day."

A couple of hours later, they counted up their work: two loaves of wheat bread, two loaves of cinnamon-raisin swirl bread, three dozen glazed sugar cookies, fourteen apple-cranberry muffins, two pans of caramel toffee brownies and the lemon meringue pie of course.

"Yep. We're all going to get fat," Kendra said with a large grin on her face.

"Oh probably," Marla responded happily, wearing a matching smile.

Then, turning slightly somber, Kendra asked, "Seth _will_ be happy to see all of this once he gets home, don't you think?"

"Ha! I'm sure he will! At least he'd better… Baking like this is no small chore." Then she winked at Kendra. "Bracken will probably be pleased too, don't you think?"

"_Mom_," Kendra said, rolling her eyes.

"What? Do unicorns not eat or something? Should I have known that? Is _that_ why he doesn't eat my lasagna?"

"Mo, Mom. Unicorns eat. Well… at least Bracken does, anyway. I don't know any other unicorns well enough to know if they do."

"Why doesn't he eat my lasagna then?"

"There's meat in it. He's a vegetarian."

Marla screwed up her face. "Your boyfriend is weird. I don't think I've met a teenage boy who doesn't eat meat."

"He's not my boyfriend," Kendra responded a little hastily. _And he's not a teenager_, she thought.

"Fine then, he's your boy _friend_. Emphasis on the fact that those are two different words. Boy… Friend. A friend that is a boy." She winked at Kendra. "I can keep going if you want."

"Oh please no," Kendra responded, shaking her head as a light blush covered her cheeks.

"Don't you want him to be your boyfriend? He comes over every two weeks almost like clockwork, and he's not made a trip yet that didn't include spending time with you," Marla said. "You are sixteen, you know. Seventeen in a few months. It's normal to be dating about now."

"I know," Kendra started. "I do want to date him, I just… I don't think he's ready for that yet." She paused and then continued, "He did say that he wanted to wait a while before we see where our relationship goes."

"Uh-huh. And how long ago did he say that?"

"Last spring," Kendra said, biting her lip.

Marla thought for a moment before she spoke next. "He's wise," she said simply. Then she patted Kendra on the shoulder affectionately. "I approve," she smiled. "What do you think about that, though?"

"Oh I agree," she responded honestly. "I don't want to rush into something."

"I believe you," Marla said. "But I think you're a little less patient than you're letting on."

Kendra looked like she was going to object, but her mother interrupted her before she could say anything.

"I see the way you look at him, Kendra. You glow. It's really pretty cute – makes me smile. Does he kiss you?" Kendra's eyes grew wide at the very blunt question that seemed to have come from nowhere.

"No," she answered, face turning a little bit of a darker shade of pink. "He sort of cuddles sometimes, but… no."

"Well, your father will be glad to hear that," Kendra's mom started, causing her daughter to gape and protest, "Don't talk to Dad about this!"

Marla laughed and continued to tease her daughter, the memory of said teasing causing present day Kendra to shake her head and chuckle a little under her breath.

She was currently trying her hand at a cream pie by herself in the kitchen. The crust had just finished baking and while it was cooling, she was getting ready to start making the pudding for it – everything from scratch, as her mother had taught her from day one, insisting that everything made from scratch always tasted better than the store bought ready-made or abbreviated versions.

Kendra measured out the sugar she needed and dumped it into the pot she was going to use to make the pudding. She turned to the side to reach for the flour on the counter when she noticed something move out of the corner of her eye and her body immediately tensed up by instinct. Her head snapped around to look at whatever she saw move, and she smiled with relief when she noticed it was only Bracken.

"You scared me," Kendra said. "You're really good at sneaking up on people – I wish you'd stop!"

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "What are you making?"

"Banana cream pie. One of the characters in the book I've been reading was talking about it as one of his favorite things to eat, and it sounded good so I thought I'd make dessert for tonight."

"I don't think I've ever tried that before. What's it like?" he asked.

"Delicious," Kendra responded. "Well… so long as I don't ruin the pudding. That's the hardest part about the whole thing."

"You've made one before?"

"Nope. I'm assuming it's the hardest part because the recipe says it takes around 30 minutes of constant stirring. I know milk burns and spoils easily, so I'll have to be careful."

Bracken smiled. "I know how to mix. Can I help?"

"Of course," Kendra grinned. "I don't like stirring things." She measured out the rest of the ingredients the recipe called for and dumped them into the same pot as the sugar, then turned the stove burner on to medium heat and handed Bracken a rubber spatula. "Your turn," she said, signaling toward the pot.

Bracken stepped forward and began stirring at a good pace. "How long did you say this takes?"

"The recipe says about 30 minutes. Until it thickens. Why, do you think you'll run out of muscle power before that happens?" she teased.

Bracken laughed, Kendra joining in. "I never know what to expect from you," he said.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"No no, it's good. You keep me guessing. I like your fire."

"Yeah… I probably get that from my mom. Maybe from Seth, too."

"I would have to agree with you there." Still smiling, he said, "I don't think your dad likes me much."

She shrugged her shoulders. "He doesn't talk about you when you're not around. At least not with me, anyway."

"Like I said… I don't think he likes me much."

Kendra walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a few eggs. "I don't see why he wouldn't."

Bracken looked at her skeptically. "I'm obviously very interested in his daughter. Of course he's not going to like me."

Kendra's face took on a contemplative expression as she said, "True. You do kind of have this whole 'saved the world and consequently Kendra' thing going for you, though."

"Don't forget, I have this whole 'ageless non-human male' thing going against me," he responded.

"I really don't think he _dis_likes you," Kendra started, "But yeah, I don't exactly think he's your biggest fan either."

"On to other topics… Do you know what you're going to do for your birthday this year?" Bracken asked.

"My birthday isn't until October. It's June. I haven't thought that far in advance," she said, confusion covering her features. "Why do you ask?"

"Just curious," Bracken answered.

"You're not going to clarify, are you?"

"No."

Kendra sighed. "Well, I wasn't even thinking about my birthday, but now I'm really curious why you brought it up."

"It's going to be your seventeenth. That's a big number."

"You do know I'm not technically considered an adult until I turn eighteen, right?" she asked, cracking the eggs and separating the yolks from the whites, placing them in separate bowls.

"I'm aware," he said. "I was just asking."

Once she'd separated out the last egg, she turned to look at him and leaned against the counter behind her. "Okay. What are you planning?"

"Who says I'm planning anything?"

"You brought this up out of the blue."

"And you're the one who's still talking about it."

"It's your fault for saying it in the first place."

"You're the one who's not letting it go. I asked an honest question, and your answer was that you didn't know what was going to happen. That's all I needed to know."

Kendra paused. "Bracken, really. Why'd you even ask?"

He smiled at her mischievously. "You'll find out eventually."

Kendra was normally one who took the high road in situations, one who thought things through before doing or saying anything, one who tried to do the smart thing instead of the impulsive thing.

This time, however, she decided to act on impulse. She reached over to the open container of flour, grabbed a small handful of the white powder, and threw it at the unsuspecting unicorn.

Bracken stopped stirring and coughed a little as he inhaled flour then said playfully, "So it's a fight you want, is it?"

"Not really. I mostly just wanted to do something spontaneous that would make it clear I don't appreciate your vague hints. Now keep stirring – don't you dare let that milk burn!" She smiled teasingly at him. "By the way, you've got a little something right here," she said, motioning over her entire torso with her hand. "You might want to clean that up."

Bracken resumed stirring, however before Kendra knew it there was a cloud of white headed in her direction as he shook himself off. She quickly ran to the side to avoid the dust, then immediately realized her mistake.

She'd left the uncovered container of flour right next to her victim, who just happened to have lightning fast reflexes, unprotected.

The pie was eventually made, however there was also quite a large mess to clean up afterward. And flour was added to the list of items to buy during the next trip to the grocery store.


End file.
